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Futuredays: A Nineteenth Century Vision of the Year 2000
Illustrations created in France to celebrate the turn of the century, show scenes depicting the future of air travel, helicopters, undersea colonies, agriculture and the radio
- GenresNonfictionArt
96 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1986
5 people are currently reading
181 people want to read
About the author
Isaac Asimov
4,343 books27.9k followersWorks of prolific Russian-American writer Isaac Asimov include popular explanations of scientific principles,
The Foundation Trilogy
(1951-1953), and other volumes of fiction.
Isaac Asimov, a professor of biochemistry, wrote as a highly successful author, best known for his books.
Asimov, professor, generally considered of all time, edited more than five hundred books and ninety thousand letters and postcards. He published in nine of the ten major categories of the Dewey decimal classification but lacked only an entry in the category of philosophy (100).
People widely considered Asimov, a master of the genre alongside Robert Anson Heinlein and Arthur Charles Clarke as the "big three" during his lifetime. He later tied Galactic Empire and the Robot into the same universe as his most famous series to create a unified "future history" for his stories much like those that Heinlein pioneered and Cordwainer Smith and Poul Anderson previously produced. He penned "Nightfall," voted in 1964 as the best short story of all time; many persons still honor this title. He also produced well mysteries, fantasy, and a great quantity of nonfiction. Asimov used Paul French, the pen name, for the Lucky Starr, series of juvenile novels.
Most books of Asimov in a historical way go as far back to a time with possible question or concept at its simplest stage. He often provides and mentions well nationalities, birth, and death dates for persons and etymologies and pronunciation guides for technical terms. Guide to Science, the tripartite set Understanding Physics, and Chronology of Science and Discovery exemplify these books.
Asimov, a long-time member, reluctantly served as vice president of Mensa international and described some members of that organization as "brain-proud and aggressive about their IQs." He took more pleasure as president of the humanist association. The asteroid 5020 Asimov, the magazine Asimov's Science Fiction, an elementary school in Brooklyn in New York, and two different awards honor his name.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_As...
Isaac Asimov, a professor of biochemistry, wrote as a highly successful author, best known for his books.
Asimov, professor, generally considered of all time, edited more than five hundred books and ninety thousand letters and postcards. He published in nine of the ten major categories of the Dewey decimal classification but lacked only an entry in the category of philosophy (100).
People widely considered Asimov, a master of the genre alongside Robert Anson Heinlein and Arthur Charles Clarke as the "big three" during his lifetime. He later tied Galactic Empire and the Robot into the same universe as his most famous series to create a unified "future history" for his stories much like those that Heinlein pioneered and Cordwainer Smith and Poul Anderson previously produced. He penned "Nightfall," voted in 1964 as the best short story of all time; many persons still honor this title. He also produced well mysteries, fantasy, and a great quantity of nonfiction. Asimov used Paul French, the pen name, for the Lucky Starr, series of juvenile novels.
Most books of Asimov in a historical way go as far back to a time with possible question or concept at its simplest stage. He often provides and mentions well nationalities, birth, and death dates for persons and etymologies and pronunciation guides for technical terms. Guide to Science, the tripartite set Understanding Physics, and Chronology of Science and Discovery exemplify these books.
Asimov, a long-time member, reluctantly served as vice president of Mensa international and described some members of that organization as "brain-proud and aggressive about their IQs." He took more pleasure as president of the humanist association. The asteroid 5020 Asimov, the magazine Asimov's Science Fiction, an elementary school in Brooklyn in New York, and two different awards honor his name.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_As...
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 22, 2025
This is a bit of an odd book, but when an author has written or edited over 500, the occasional oddity can be expected from time to time.
In 1899 a French illustrator created a number of cards for cigarette boxes that predicted what things would be like in the year 2000. But then the company founder died and they were never issued. They were later found by a man who subsequently opened a shop and sold them to Asimov, who used them as a basis for this book.
I had been thinking that, as a novelist, he wrote a story about each picture and if he could make a story from each picture, maybe I could make a game from the pictures, but in this I was vastly disappointed. He simply describes each picture and critiques it in terms of its practicality and how it turned out from the perspective of 1985, not much of a basis for a game.
The pictures are nice, though not all are used. The text is annoyingly small despite large amounts of white space. To see the pictures online, search for “Lost Futures: A 19th-Century Vision of the Year 2000”.
In 1899 a French illustrator created a number of cards for cigarette boxes that predicted what things would be like in the year 2000. But then the company founder died and they were never issued. They were later found by a man who subsequently opened a shop and sold them to Asimov, who used them as a basis for this book.
I had been thinking that, as a novelist, he wrote a story about each picture and if he could make a story from each picture, maybe I could make a game from the pictures, but in this I was vastly disappointed. He simply describes each picture and critiques it in terms of its practicality and how it turned out from the perspective of 1985, not much of a basis for a game.
The pictures are nice, though not all are used. The text is annoyingly small despite large amounts of white space. To see the pictures online, search for “Lost Futures: A 19th-Century Vision of the Year 2000”.
January 12, 2018
A group of futurists vision's of a hundred years ahead from their time. You can clearly see that they could't visualize the future without using technology, fashion or issues in their time. Their visions are mostly misaligned in today's world which makes me realize that the way they think of how 2000 will be is maybe the same way we think of 2100 which is a mind blowing. This book is very well illustrated, thought-provoking, interesting and fun. It made me laugh and think at the same time. It is good to have, perfect for coffee table.
September 6, 2022
A real curiosity, since you have an artist in 1899 creating fifty visualizations of how life will be different in 2000, then the text by Isaac Asimov, writing in 1986, saying what the artist has missed so far. But from our viewpoint well past 2000, we know what Asimov missed, and the changes since Asimov's 1986 were vast. (I read this first in 1986 when it was published.)
December 11, 2010
It wasn't until the advent of the airplane that the avian spell was completely broken.
While men might be able to devise a form of racing in which they are mounted on the backs of dolphins, fish are not bright enough to be guided along a course by riders.
Direct human flight using flappable wings is never likely to come to pass.
This particular defiance of the law of gravity is not a reasonable prophecy.
The first person to ascend in a balloon in 1783, Pilâtre de Rozier, was also the first person to die in a balloon accident, in 1785.
While men might be able to devise a form of racing in which they are mounted on the backs of dolphins, fish are not bright enough to be guided along a course by riders.
Direct human flight using flappable wings is never likely to come to pass.
This particular defiance of the law of gravity is not a reasonable prophecy.
The first person to ascend in a balloon in 1783, Pilâtre de Rozier, was also the first person to die in a balloon accident, in 1785.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews